When your instincts are screaming this loudly, you really have no other option besides following them. So you order Simo to hold fire and turn to the Space Marines, "My Lords, what are your orders?"

Lord Pyrus stares at the xenos ship, hoarfrost and flames dancing on his fingers. After the longest few heartbeats of your life he speaks, "Give me a communications channel."

Vir promptly patches Lord Pyrus into the channel opened by the Xenos ship.

"Aegis to unknown ship, clarify."

That sing-song voice comes back, "Beings That Should Not Be, Aegis. We intend to cast them out and seal the Way behind them. Will you lend us your strength or stand in our path?"

Pyrus closes his eyes and considers, the flames and hoarfrost dancing faster. You glace about your bridge and take stock of your crew. Morrigan, Frank and Simo are all tense and twitchy at the presence of the Xenos ship, but Vir and Yasha are both as pale as snow. You cock an eyebrow at Yasha, and she mouths 'Kania' at you. You pause for a moment, then the reference hit you like an out-of-control shuttle. Kania. The Kania Incursion. Daemons. Xenos were bad enough, but this is truly above and way beyond what you signed on for. You nod at Yasha and clench your jaw, hoping against hope that Lord Pyrus doesn't put you, the Aegis, or her crew into too much more peril.

Your hopes are in vain.

Lord Pyrus' eyes open, "Send a landing zone outside of this 'shrine'. We will send a shuttle, as will you." He gestures for Vir to close the channel, and turn to you, "Shipmaster Von Sebastion, I will require your armsmen in this endeavor."

You hold up a placating hand, and turn to your bridge crew, "Frank, stay on the helm. Simo, we are under a ceasefire here. Do NOT fire at that ship unless instructed to do so by myself, Zheeves, or if we are fired upon by that ship. Morrigan, prepare a single team of armsmen, one of the rifle squads I think. You will remain aboard the Aegis, leading the other squads in defense of the ship if needed." You turn back to Lord Pyrus, "I dare not risk more armsmen, both for the safety of my ship and in case of contamination. Accordingly, I must leave my Bosun aboard to lead them. Instead, I will lead the squad myself, accompanied by Vir and Yasha Saurlance. They both survived the Kania Incursion."

Lord Pyrus nods in agreement, "what about orbital support? can the Aegis conduct an orbital strike if needed?"

You can only ask Simo the same question. He responds, "not with the level of destruction that you may be used to Lord. Our Sunsears are powerful, but they are not proper Bombardment Cannons or Lances. They would hit with no more power than an artillery shell, and even my accuracy would be less that perfect."

You can only shrug, "If we need a bigger boom, we could always drop the Cambrian on the target."

Lord Pyrus shakes his head, "no, we need that ship for evidence now that we are operating openly."

You nod in acceptance, "Sunsears it is then. Vir, Yasha, prepare for an away mission."

With Frank and Simo both staying aboard the Aegis, you must instead use Lord Pyrus' shuttle and pilot. Everything is scaled for a space marine, so your feet are left dangling off the benches in the rear of the shuttle. everyone is in full War gear, and at least one armsman is murmuring prayers. All to soon, you are exiting the shuttle behind the Space Marines, eyes sweeping the area.

The plain on which you have landed is rather picturesque, dotted with slow-rolling hills and coated in knee-high grasses and illuminated by the high-noon sun. Its beauty is almost complimented by the Xenos shuttle's sweeping lines, but not its matte black color or the hundreds of white runes and red gemstones set into its surface. Standing in front of it are eight unnaturally tall figures. Seven of them are in the same black with white runes colors as the shuttle and carry slim firearms of a design you have not seen before. The eighth is dressed in bone white robes and carries a long polearm of what looks to be yellowed ivory. Direwolf sniffs the air loudly, and you see his eyes tracking the hilltops, looking for someone or something. Your eyes do the same, but fix on the ugly lump of twisted black stone one hilltop to the south.

Your eyes strain to make out more details about that unnatural protrusion, and you can feel the migraine building behind your eyes and smell the sickly-sweet odor of perfume and rotted flesh on the breeze. Your attention is wrenched away by the same sing-song voice you heard over the Aegis' bridge speakers.

"The Firebringer and the Wanderer have come to aid us in our time of need. Should we still stand when the sun sets, then debts will be paid and fresh oaths struck."

You glance at lord Pyrus, but he is looking at Direwolf. Direwolf sniffs again, then nods in satisfaction, "three rangers on the hill to the north, but the xenos isn't lying. I can smell the corruption on the air."

You can see Lord Pyrus come to a decision, but it is overruled by a flare of painful pink-green-purple light from the south. Vir and Yasha both open up in that direction, pouring a mixture of lasbolts and solid slugs at something beyond your range of vision. The black-clad xenos follow suit, unleashing a withering barrage of screeching metal. Rubicon snaps an order and your armsmen fall prone into firing positions alongside him, the cadence of their lasguns a steady pewing drumbeat. You turn to face the monument again, drawing your laspistol and Serpent’s Breath, and behold madness.

A tide of flesh and claws and scant scraps of cloth is emerging from a hellish Portal at the foot of the twisted stones. The leading crest is being hammered into ruined scraps of flesh, but larger beings are emerging now, standing chest and head and shoulders above their lesser minions. You add the fire of your laspistol to the barrage, and are surprised to see one of the large ones stagger under the shots. Then there is the almighty THOOM of Direwolf's high-caliber rifle discharging and the large one you were plinking at disintegrates into so much pink mist.

Lord Pyrus and the polearm-carrying Xenos step forward in unison. The xenos sweeps her polearm in a grand circle over her head and the clear sky opens up in a lightning storm, thunderbolts raining down into the midst of the tide. Lord Pyrus is a tad more direct, pointing his staff at the foe and unleashing a torrent of white fire. Their combined efforts leave the horde reeling, but more of the daemons are still coming through the gate.

Praying that your signal can get through, you holster Serpent’s Breath and tap your microbead, "Tristan to Zheeves, do you read?"

"I re... ou, Si..."

"Have Simo bombard the stones south of our landing zone. Repeat, bombard the stones south of the landing zone."

"...ard sto... uth of t... nding zo... med. Dang... ose."

Your desperate gambit pays off, mostly. Beams of coherent light strike down from on high, blasting craters tens of meters across in the daemonc tide. One round lands just behind the leading edge and throws several of the damned things forwards into your ranks. Rubicon is on his feat, chainblade in hand with inhuman speed clashing with one of them. Lord Pyrus breaks off his fire long enough to neatly bisect another two before they can land. Polearm-xenos claims another, never even breaking her cyclic circles. Two more land among the black clad xenos, and a third among your armsmen. Without thinking, you charge the last one.

Before you can reach the daemon, a sunsear blast hits the Portal directly. You feel the air itself crackle with unnatural power as everything freezes for a searing moment. Then you are hurled sideways, and everything goes black.

When you come to, you can only open your right eye. Staring at the darkened sky, you gather your wits and listen to the stillness in the air. The click of a bootheel on stone draws your attention, so you slowly sit up. All around you, figures lie still and unmoving. Only one person stands: the polearm-xenos, at it is looking directly at you.

"I would have words, Wanderer, If you would listen."